Sunday, August 16, 2015

My work experiences have been varied but centered around the
intention to broaden my understanding and technical skills needed in the
forestry field. I will be
completing two degrees in Forest Engineering and International Studies in June
2016 from Oregon State University.

For the Summer of 2015, I am an intern with the Ashland Forest Resiliency
Project (AFR) in Southwestern Oregon.It is a very unique experience because I am working with four partners
throughout the summer on various aspects of the management that goes into
working with a collaborative team.The team includes the US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy,
Lomakatsi (NGO), and the City of Ashland.

I split my time between the partners.It is a combination of fieldwork,
technical writing, and public or private meetings. The opportunity to work with
the AFR partners broadens my understanding of active forest management
interconnected with community participation.The urban intersection with the forest and the community’s
stake in the management process is unique and critical for success. Work in this setting requires a high level of communication with multiple people. With minimal oversight to deciding my daily activities and no one direct responsibility maintaining reachable goals and clear intentions is key.

Working in the woods

Previous work experience with Western Forest Products (WFP)
in British Columbia gave me insight in the private industry managing on
public lands.It was much more
traditional West Coast management with minimal complexities compared to my work
at AFR.The experience with WFP
was focused more towards operations and harvesting feasibility.It was applied engineering while I
worked with professionals.AFR is applied silviculture and the integration of the social complexities within the management
plans on federal lands.Both of
these experiences are valuable to continuing my understanding of how forest
management is applied differently.

Professionally I aim to work towards managerial
positions by that landscape, people, or resources. I appreciate a position that gives me the hole picture. I am more likely to seek
positions in the private forest industry but I am open to any possibility.I want responsibility and respect for what I know and can learn.I am interested in working abroad for a
few years in the forestry sector.Eventually I will pursue an MBA or some way to further my education and
qualifications. Personally I want the flexibility to travel and live in
different places for the next ten years.

I'm not sure where my skills can be most useful and enhanced but I have the passion for the applied science, engineering, and social needs surrounding natural resource management.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Wildland Fire Leadership Council at the Ashland Forest Resilient
Project

July 28th
– 29th, 2015

Ashland, Oregon

Meeting purpose

The Wildland Fire Leadership Council came to Ashland, Oregon
on July 28-29th, 2015.The meeting aimed to further understand how the leadership team can
build around the goals of the Wildland Fire Cohesive strategy.The gathering included a field tour of
the Ashland Forest Resiliency Project (AFR) and deliberations regarding the
future role WFLC has in national landscape management.

The gathering was full of important and influential people
on the Wildland fire management throughout the country.Representatives of public agencies and
private organizations came from across the country for this meeting including;
US Forest Service, Department of Interior, Fisheries and Wildlife, The Nature
Conservancy, Fire Adapted Communities, Natural Resource Conservation Service,
Bureau of Land Management, National Association of Counties, Association of
Governors, City of Ashland and many more.People came from all backgrounds with the purpose to
address the ongoing wildland fire management.Most notable was the presence of USDA Secretary Robert
Bonnie and US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell.

Field Trip

Tuesday’s field trip demonstrated the approach of the AFR
project as a successful and forward thinking example of implementing the
Cohesive Strategy within an ecosystems services framework.The partners aimed to demonstrate to
visitors the successes and challenges of working with a collaborative approach
for forest restoration and wildfire hazard reduction.

Ashland Mayor John Stromberg

Context at Reeder Reservoir
We began the tour at the Ashland City reservoir.Overlooking the city’s water source we got a briefing on the
history of collaboration and forest management in Ashland. Partners from the US
Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, and the Mayor of Ashland set the stage for
some context of how a highly engaged community and interfaced with dry forests
became more accepting of active forest management for wildland fire, ecosystem
restoration, and water availability.

Ranger Donna Mickley, USFS

Background consisted of how the city acquired land; historical
timber industry; effects from major flood events; and the community engagement offered
the obstacles community leaders had to overcome.

We observed the reservoir storing 6 weeks worth of water for
the City. This backdrop set the
stage that the community directly feels the water constraints.The city’s effort expressed a voluntary
request by its citizens to contribute to the water conservation by decreasing
their personal use.Within a year
a 30% decrease in water consumption was observed.In addition,
the city also initiated a small fee added on to the city’s residents’ water
bill to go directly towards ongoing watershed management.

White Rabbit Trailhead

Forest Division Chief
Chris Chambers

At this stop we spit into a three group rotation in order to
be exposed to the many caveats of being a part of a collaborative that manages
natural resources with a high degree of community input and agency oversight.

Robert Bonnie
USDA Secretary

We observed an example of successful prescribed fire.The discussion focused on the
challenges with using fire as a tool in the Pacific Northwest.The challenges are primarily due to
maintaining air quality according the National Air Quality regulations.When smoke is created, it tends to sit
in the valleys where communities often reside.Health concerns are high priority and the constraints make
it impossible to effectively use fire.The Ashland Watershed had three days to burn in 2014 with nearly 2,000
acres of burn piles currently ready for flames.A Florida representative exclaimed they had over 200 days to
burn.Prescribed fires are used to
reduce fuel build up and to simulate what resilient ecosystems experience when
a wildfire runs through.

Marko Bey
Exec Director at Lomakatsi

Then with different representatives from the US Forest
Service and NGO-organization Lomakatsi Restoration Group funding, grants, and
agency implementation was discussed at length on the newness of integrating
collaborative management to a landscape scale. The theme resounded that using a
Stewardship Agreement between the partners and the US Forest changed the
dynamics of collaboration.The
table was evened so that those working with the forest service could be treated
equally as truer partners.

Don Boucher,
Stewardship Coordinator, USFS

Finally, the message of that intense diversity and land
management objectives was truly a feat to conquer.The incredible complexity and diversity found within a small
area of the watershed is astounding and the partners have achieved a high level
of success to combine the staggering objectives.While the objectives prioritize ecosystem resiliency,
wildland fire risk reduction, and water quality, the nitty gritty details are
not always addressed.For instance
at the project level forest health varies, volumes are not commercially viable,
social values, and sufficient supporting infrastructure.

Private
Property and Youth Crew

“All hands, All lands” approach has extended the fuels and
ecosystem treatments from solely federal lands to private landowners throughout
the watershed.The NRCS has been
instrumental in funding projects for landowners in strategic areas surrounding
Ashland.The property we visited
was an exemplary example of progressive fuels management in a tense
environment.For over twenty
years, the significant member of the community landowner entrusted a forester,
Marty Main, with fuels management near town.Amazingly the juxtaposition of federal and private land
looks remarkably similar on both sides of the fence thanks to the hard work of
AFR and the landowner.Currently
private lands surrounding Ashland are getting grants from the NRCS to fund
fuels treatments on the outskirts and interspersed with the watershed.

Marko Bey and crew leads

Midway through lunch, 20 young people descended from the
adjacent slopes. They were apart of the Lomakatsi Youth Crew.For one month in the summer high school
juniors and seniors were hired to a work and education experience in a
professional setting.They work
for most of the morning and then are joined by experienced professionals for a
focused lesson around forest and natural resource restoration.This introduction to working in natural
resource management is hugely influential on the people by demonstrating the
complexity and science of managing natural resources.Lomakatsi Restoration Project is a setting a high bar for
training an effective new workforce.

Lomakatsi Youth Crew

Community
Input

Upon returning to the downtown Ashland, discussions transitioned
to presentations about community involvement.Local researchers with Southern Oregon University presented
social science data that supported the significant contribution outreach
provided to the success of the project.This was demonstrated through the public survey results collected over a
short period.
The Chamber of
Commerce spoke about increasing access to tourists and community members
through a collaborative effort to create a map with educational material and
local trails.
The Watershed Art
Group expressed their appreciation for watershed ecosystem services through
local art projects to be sponsored and displayed on highly used trails.A beautiful sculpture of a fisher was
created by their efforts.
Fire
Chief John Karns discussed the efforts behind the Fire Adapted Communities
Program to prepare and educate homeowners to maintain safe spaces in their
neighborhoods.
And finally Jon
O’Connor from Oregon Department of Forestry and George McKinley from SOFRC,
rounded it up with a summary of the larger landscape plans with the Rouge
Valley Cohesive Implementation Strategy and the Southern Oregon Forest
Restoration Collaborative.

Overall the WFLC was extremely impressed with the
organization and presentation of the successes seen in the AFR project.It was a long day but very successful
and effective way to demonstrate the scope of the AFR project.

My Role

It was my job to assist the City of Ashland and the partners
put on the tour.For several days
leading up to the gathering, we made signs, finalized schedules, attendees,
food, transportation, and the many last minute details. Chris Chambers, City of
Ashland – Chief of Forestry Division, was instrumental in the entire process of
making the tour going smoothly.Allison Lerch, City of Ashland – Fire Adaptive Communities Coordinator- and
myself were a part of his team to manage time and deal with the constant
logistics shift.

WFLC /AFR Perspectives
& Highlights

The next day the WFLC attendees congregated to discuss
lessons learned from AFR and the possible opportunities to apply the process
further nationally.

To share their perspectives a panel of AFR partner representatives
discussed key challenges and ways to improve the collaborative process.The following summarizes the comments:

Maintaining capacity to coordinate technical and
administration support

Internal
and external training on board with Wildland fire strategies

Smoke management limits days to burn

Rebrand
public perception of smoke

oShared
endorsement and acceptance of risk

oWiden
burn windows

Community ownership and outreach

Get
community buy in

Better
integrative planning and response within communities

oIncreased
public information and outreach

Emergency
awareness and preparedness

Relationships

Created
by transparency and trust

oStewardship
Agreements shares the work and levels partner input

Out of the information was discussed and presented from the
AFR perspective many questions were left for deliberation.

What are the causes for collaboratives to be
successful?

How can collaboration be streamlined
nationally?

How can we build trust while implementing the
first NEPA?

WFLC members shared their own reflections and concerns
highlighted during the field tour and further discussions.

Transformation of the vision at different levels

Social science involvement

Stewardship

Overall, participating in this opportunity was interesting to view the AFR Project with a national lens. The challenges Southern Oregon faces are similar and different to communities around the country. Through additional national support and collaboration they can model a methodology to ensuring safer communities and more resilient ecosystems.